Blog Entry #1 (AP Lit/Ever)

I was looking forwarding to reading Animal Farm for quite some time and I was recently able to acquire a copy of it. Animal Farm is Orwell's fairy-tale satire of Communist Russia. It was meant to reveal many of the atrocities underlying communism, such as the corruption of the leading class, in a way that anyone and everyone could and would read. The people of the time of the release of the book, however, did not seem to want to immediately recognize what was really happening in Russia and wanted nothing to do with the book. The story begins on a farm going by the name “Manor Farm.” The leader of the farm, Mr. Jones, is a drunk human. Major, the farm’s prized white boar, is to die soon. Major has a dream which he shares with the animals of the farm in the form of a speech before passing away. This speech also outlines many ideas representing those of Karl Marx himself. Major tells the other animals, the overworked and under-compensated working class, they must eventually overthrow their ruler to gain full freedom and to truly live happily. Soon after Major’s death, the animals of the farm rise up and take control of the farm, then rename it “Animal Farm.” The pigs quickly rise to roles of leadership on the farm. At first, the animals seem to be working toward a better community, running the farm well and keeping a certain harmony; however, this does not last. As the story progresses, the pigs, in many ways, behave increasingly more human-like, and exploit the other animals to increasingly severe amounts. This is represented in such increments as drinking the milk, eating all of the apples, sleeping in the farmhouse, and eventually walking on two legs. By the end of the story, the pigs complete the transformation and the other animals are no longer able to distinguish between the pigs and the humans. Many articles I read about the story, almost all prior to actually reading it, describe who the characters represent, such as Napoleon and Major represent Stalin and Karl Marx, respectively. The human beings in the story also clearly represent capitalists.